Toboggan runs
Rodela means round shield in Spanish . The soldiers armed with this were called tobogganers . They were equipped with one-handed swords and rounded shields that had a diameter of about 60 cm. The “Rodelas” were mostly made of steel, but there were also variants made of wood, stretched in iron and covered with animal skins. The tobogganers were especially effective against pikemen and halberdiers , as they could effortlessly evade the densely packed polearms, dive under the enemy weapons and break up the formations from within.
When Hernán Cortés reached the New World in 1506 , he was accompanied by 1,300 soldiers. 1,000 of them were toboggan runs. Their advantage was that they were versatile and adaptable soldiers, as they mastered both hand-to-hand combat on narrow ship decks and the guerrilla tactics of local opponents.
